Article

As the Worm Turns

Published on Sat, 2013-07-27 11:49

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CrossFit

It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood.

The first Team event of Saturday was announced—sort of—well before today as a simple couplet of squats and burpees.

But, as is often the case, a key bit of info was left out: athletes would perform the squats in unison while holding a log cut into six segments and connected by a short length of rope. The burpees would also be performed as a team, with athletes jumping over the Worm on each rep. The total damage: three rounds of 30 squats and 30 burpees.

In this format, all the pressure fell squarely on the weakest athlete on each team, who had to work as hard as possible to avoid slowing down his or her teammates. Many groups also realized communication would be essential, and in the warm-up area before the event, a host of squads were developing systems to help them synchronize movements.

“Down … down … down,” team captains called to their athletes, who listened carefully to each command and did their best to perfect their timing and sync up their movements.

The first heat proved just how difficult synchronization really was.

Round 1 was fairly seamless, but as fatigue kicked in teams started to falter with their timing and balance. It wasn’t uncommon to watch entire teams topple over like dominos during the squats.

And on the burpees, mental mistakes led some teams to have multiple no-reps. The rules stated that all six athletes’ chests had to be on the ground before anyone could stand up and jump over the log.

CrossFit 808 topped the first heat, while the second heat was a close battle between Team Taranis and CrossFit Stodin (Thor), with Team Taranis eventually coming out on top.

After the first two heats, Taranis and Stodin were the only two teams to finish the event before the 15-minute time cap.

Heat 3 was time for CrossFit Fort Vancouver to shine. Team member Adam Neiffer was the one who called the shots for the former Affiliate Cup champions.

Neiffer’s team was on a mission to improve after Friday’s events.

“We felt like after yesterday we had our back against the wall a little bit,” Neiffer said.

“Every time we picked up that Worm it was a blast. We love awkward objects. I don’t know if we’re just an awkward group,” he added.

Neiffer knew the key to the event would be how well your team worked together. And CrossFit Fort Vancouver did just that. They were solid from the start, making few mistakes and taking the lead early in the second round.

Other teams, though, had paced themselves wisely and chipped away, and in the third round, Hack’s Pack, CrossFit Dynamix and CrossFit Adrenaline emerged near the top.

CrossFit Fort Vancouver went on to win, while Hack’s Pack and CrossFit Dynamix rounded out the top three in that heat.

“The key to that workout is not making mistakes,” said David Charbonneau of CrossFit Dynamix, whose team’s strategy was for the guy on one of the middle log to make the calls. This strategy helped his team avoid any no-reps on the squats.